A-Group Cemeteries Nubian Burials at Qustul

Burials at Qustul show social differences

Oriental Institute archaeologists found three significant A-Group cemeteries at Qustul. The most important, Cemetery L, revealed wealthy burials of A-Group rulers and high officials. Burials of officials were also found in Cemetery V. Cemetery W contained the simpler graves of people of lesser status.

Tombs of rulers and officials were destroyed

The tombs of Cemetery L were looted and damaged by fire in antiquity. Many valuable objects like the Qustul Incense Burner were smashed. Cemetery W, which contained only burials of lower ranking people, suffered no such destruction, and many tombs were found intact.

The objects in the A-Group case came from cemeteries at Qustul

What is known about the A-Group comes mostly from cemeteries— few settlements have been excavated. The homeland of the A-Group, including these cemeteries, has been submerged since the construction of the Aswan High Dam, making the Oriental Institute’s collection an irreplaceable record of early Nubian history.